The paper gives an overview of the state of the art in the field of impact studies among Danish NGOs and within the international development community. It has been prepared as part of a study, entitled “The Danish NGO Impact Study”, carried out in 1998-1999 by an international team of researchers and consultants on the initiative of Danida and the Danish NGOs. The paper established the basis upon which the Danish NGO Impact Study was designed and gives an account of the national context including the characteristics and diversity of the Danish NGO Community. An account of the Danida - NGO relationship and an overview of the evaluation systems and approaches are presented as a frame for understanding the very limited experiences with impact assessments within the Danish NGO community. The analysis of existing NGO project evaluation reports concludes that in general the Danish NGO projects are found to perform well, but the key issues of sustainability, gender, democratisation, participation, partnership and impact are generally not assessed and thus presently poorly documented